Street taking money when he hits the road
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - December 25, 2007 Street had vetoed a pay-raise bill in the midst of an election
in 2003, and the City Council overrode it. The mayor, however,
chose not to take an increase, which at the time would have raised
his salary from $146,000 to $165,000.
Now he has decided to collect it retroactively.
Street referred questions to City Finance Director Vincent
Jannetti, who said the mayor is entitled to the money. "He
deferred it and held back on it," Jannetti said.
Street is participating in the city's Deferred Retirement Option
Program, which allows employees eligible to retire to pick a
retirement date four years down the road, then amass pension
payments while working and collecting their salaries.
The idea was to encourage longtime employees to stay on the job
past retirement age, allowing the city time to plan to replace
them. Street wanted to end the DROP program in 2003, saying the
city could not afford it.
But he applied for it in 2004 once the city Pension Board voted
to continue it.
"Whether he opposed it or embraced it at the outset, it became
law," Jannetti said. "He is one of those eligible employees, so
he availed himself of it like anybody else, and that's his right."
Street, who was a longtime city councilman before he was mayor,
is to get an annual pension of $115,700.
Term limits prevented Street from seeking a third term. He will
be succeeded by fellow Democrat Michael Nutter next month.